Lovers of luxury / THU 7-1-10 / 15th century pontiff only pope to write autobiography / Dick's partner / One of Western political family

Constructor: Clive Probert

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: OVER / UNDER — "___ over ___" and "___ under ___" phrases are represented with the first and last words in the phrases literally over or under each other (so that "over" and "under" are implied)


Word of the Day: COPRA (43A: Coconut oil source) —

n.
The dried white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted.

[Portuguese, from Malayalam koppara.]

• • •

First thought: "Seen it." Don't know where or when, but this gimmick is familiar to me. Not that I picked up on it right away. First couple minutes were spent just hacking around. Eventually stumbled into the central theme answer(s) — by far the best of the lot, by virtue of being playful/interesting — and then went back and picked up the stupid NW (where I was sure I was doomed) and pretty much tore the puzzle apart from there. Phrases are all very, almost too, familiar, except MIND over BODY, which just feels awkward to my ears.

Theme answers:

• 1A: With 14-Across, breakfast order? (EGGS over EASY)
  
• 16A: With 8-Across, world's oldest subway system? (LONDON underGROUND)
  
• 34A: With 42-Across, bogey? (ONE over PAR)
  
• 45A: With 42-Across, birdie? (ONE under PAR)
  
• 70A: With 67-Across, dreaded words from a cop? (YOU ARE under ARREST)
  
• 69A: With 72-Across, motto of a fitness trainer? (MIND over BODY)
  

High- and lowlights: DIVI-what? I had DIVISION and DIVIDEND in that damned answer and didn't get the real answer (DIVIDE UP) til near the very end (21D: Split). Nerdily proud to nail RATITE (48D: Many an Australian bird) and NAURU (52D: Pacific republic) (in the same small SW section), largely by virtue of my having made both words my "Word of the Day" in recent months. KURT crossing RON = huh? crossing who? for me (57D: Mathematician Gödel + 68A: Actor Moody of "Oliver!"). Thankfully, the "R" was completely inferrable. UPRIVER was my favorite answer in the whole grid (31A: Away from the mouth). SYBARITES is laudable, in its way, but too pretentious for me to fully embrace (4D: Lovers of luxury). And what the hell is with the clue on LEI (15A: Romanian "dollars")? That is Not an improvement on the Hawaiian floral wreath answer. Plural of an already obscure / crosswordesey currency (LEU)? Just write a better (Hawaiian) LEI clue!

Bullets:

• 49A: Sickening (NOISOME) — good word. This was probably my worst stumble of the day, as I put in NOXIOUS.
  
• 19A: Pontiac, for one (OTTAWA) — not a model I'm familiar with ... [sit back, wait for mail]
• 51D: Dick's partner (SPIRO) — interesting political clues today in this one (tough) and UDALL (toughish) (11D: One of a Western political family).
  
• 44A: "___ Eyes" (1969 hit) ("THESE") — "LYIN" also fits; wrong year. [correction: LYING fits. LYIN' ... does not]
  

[no Eagles to be found, so ... this'll do]

• 54A: Entry at a hippodrome (TROTTER) — mind briefly confused "hippodrome" and "velodrome"
  
• 59A: 15th-century pontiff who was the only pope to write an autobiography (PIUS II) — random popes with Roman numerals are never a welcome sight.
  
• 61A: Weapon in "The Terminator" (UZI) — from ISR (60D: Neighbor of Syr.). I thought answer would be more ... futuristic/robotic.
  
• 6D: What the Mad Hatter pours on the Dormouse to wake it up (TEA) — well, let's see, they were at the TEA party, so ...
  
• 23D: Stalwart supporter (ADHERENT) — so NBA free agency begins in about 40 minutes from the time I'm typing this. Stalwart supporters of Cleveland and its "King" will be holding their collective breaths waiting to see what the second-best player in basketball decides to do . . . Hope he decides quickly so that ESPN can move on to talking about Anything else.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]